KIWI boxer Joseph Parker is the new heavyweight champion of the world after edging Andy Ruiz Jr by majority decision in Auckland.

The fight for the WBO belt went down to the most slender of margins on Saturday night, with Parker earning a 115-113 victory from two judges and a 114-114 draw from the third. Parker, 24, started the fight slowly but grew into the contest, dominating the closing rounds as his stocky opponent began to tire.

And his superior fitness and punching power told in the end, making him the first Kiwi to be crowned heavyweight world champion.

Parker’s team celebrate their win over Ruiz.Source: FOX SPORTS

He’s likely to seek a unification fight overseas in 2017 or a bout with former champion Tyson Fury when he’s recovered from substance abuse. Both fighters promised an open, offensive battle and didn’t disappoint, showing plenty of willingness to throw combinations early on.

But as the fight traversed through its opening rounds, Parker found it difficult to break the Mexican-American’s defensive rear-guard with jabs. Ruiz, meanwhile, managed to land several solid blows to Parker’s head, including a second-round string of connections in the corner, and frequent left hooks to the body.

The fifth round proved more fortuitous for Parker, hitting Ruiz with a left-hand blow to the face and setting himself up for a dominant sixth-round performance. But with half the fight gone, it remained difficult to pick the man with the upper hand.

Parker gained momentum in the later rounds but was on the back foot for much of the bout.Source: FOX SPORTS

Both boxers landed flurries of punches in the seventh before another positive ninth-round Parker performance - who landed several jabs to the face - set the fight up for a grand finale.

And as Ruiz began to tire, Parker found new ways of getting under his defence via uppercuts and several right-hand blows to the face.

The final two rounds came and went without Parker landing a knock-out blow, condemning the pair to the mercy of the judges, who chose the Aucklander.

“What a dream come true,” Parker said immediately after the fight.

Parker became the first Kiwi to be world heavyweight champ.Source: FOX SPORTS

In the undercard fights, Parker’s brother John defeated compatriot Ash McConville by unanimous verdict in just his second professional fight. Powerful Kiwi Junior Fa thumped Pablo Magrini with a third-round TKO, felling the diminutive Argentinian with a series of left-hand body blows. Australian Shannon O’Connell overcame Argentinian Laura Griffa by unanimous verdict to collect the WBO women’s Asia-Pacific super bantamweight title. Ghanaian Isaac Dogboe then claimed the vacant WBO international super bantamweight title with a seventh-round TKO of Argentinian Julian Aristule. In the final undercard fight, Australian welterweight Jeff Horn made relatively easy work of South African Ali Funeka, knocking him out with a sixth-round blow.

Horn took a huge step towards a dream date with Manny Pacquiao after a crushing win over Funeka.

The Australian welterweight overcame a shock third-round knockdown to win by technical knockout in round six to seal his 16th professional win, and by far the most significant of his career so far.

It means the 28-year-old former schoolteacher from Brisbane is potentially just one fight away from a meeting with Pacquiao, the legendary Filipino and the WBO welterweight champion.

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum watched on from ringside at Auckland’s Vector Arena, with Horn’s fight the main support to Parker’s heavyweight world title clash.

Arum has signed a co-promotion deal with Horn’s promoters Duco Events and had floated his intention to bring him to the US early next year to face Jessie Vargas or Timothy Bradley, two other fighters in his Top Rank stable, if he was able to overcome Funeka.

Arum, who turned 85 on Thursday, would have been thoroughly impressed with what he saw.

The experienced Funeka had a 10cm height and reach advantage but his lanky frame proved his undoing, with Horn’s full-on body assault paying rich dividends. He copped a few early jabs from Funeka but always looked to have the 38-year- old’s measure, even after a head clash prompted the referee to controversially rule a knockdown in the dying seconds of the third round.

Funeka complained about an apparent headbutt early in the next round that left him with a nasty gash above his left eye.

Horn responded with a knockdown of his own in round five, and finished the job by sending a visibly tired Funeka crashing to the canvas soon afterwards - just the second time he had been stopped in his 21-year career.